258 ON THE DRAINING OF PLANTATIONS. 



and therefore the drainage was a difficult operation, requiring great 

 labour, but when finished it was completely successful in drying 

 the ground, and the effect on the plantation was very marked. The 

 first summer after draining the spruce and larch assumed a more 

 healthy look, and the whole plantation is now in a thriving state ; 

 and tbis, I believe, is entirely due to the drainage of the ground. 



In draining old plantations, say over thirty years old, containing 

 hardwood trees, great care must be taken in selecting the more open 

 parts, and laying out of the drains to avoid cutting the roots of the 

 trees as far as possible, even should the drains not be equi-distant, 

 nor in altogether straight lines. Again, in cases of extreme wet- 

 ness, it is advisable to drain the ground moderately at first, and 

 to deepen the drains at different times afterwards, untd the desired 

 effect is attained, as it will be found that after the trees have been 

 growing a length of time in extreme wetness, a sudden change in the 

 moisture and temperature of the soil, caused by draining off all the 

 water at once, would injuriously affect them. 



The difference between drained and undrained land was remark- 

 able during the very wet season of 1872, when even the best made 

 drains were taxed to the utmost, and well drained land was not too 

 firm or dry, while undrained land inclined to be wet became a regu- 

 lar marsh. 



When trees are planted on undrained wet land, they soon become 

 sickly, and covered with lichens ; the fir and evergreen kinds become 

 yellowish green, stunted in their growth, and covered with cones, 

 sure signs of premature decay and disease, sooner or later followed 

 by the death of the plant. 



In forming covered drains, it is best to have the pipes laid and 

 the soil filled in each night as the work proceeds. To execute 

 drains badly, whether covered or open, is a useless sinking of money, 

 especially covered drains, the making of which requires the greatest 

 possible care in laying out, having proper depths, and laying pipes 

 properly in a smooth well finished bottom. 



From the differences and varieties of soil and subsoil, the value of 

 labour in different localities, and the various depths to which drains 

 are made, no definite statement as to prices can be given in this 

 paper, farther than that, in ordinary circumstances, open drains might 

 be made 2 feet deep, and the soil spread, from Is. lOd. to 2s. 9d. per 

 chain, and 4 feet covered drains, opened and filled in, at from 

 2s. Gd. to 3s. Gd. per chain of 22 yards, and at proportionately less 

 rates in peaty soils. 



